The Official Scottish Rugby Thread

[weegie01]

WTF are you cunts on? I'm not going to pretend that was a faultless display but that was a good game all in. Even in beating one of the top teams in the world some of you are trying to be as negative as possible.

I agree. Some players were not at their stellar best, some wrong decisions were made, but we beat a team who have just beaten South Africa back to back. For most of my rugby enthusiast life we could only dream of results like that.

It needs to be backed up next week though.

[Biffer]

WTF are you cunts on? I'm not going to pretend that was a faultless display but that was a good game all in. Even in beating one of the top teams in the world some of you are trying to be as negative as possible.

I agree. Some players were not at their stellar best, some wrong decisions were made, but we beat a team who have just beaten South Africa back to back. For most of my rugby enthusiast life we could only dream of results like that.

It needs to be backed up next week though.

Exactly. Some people have become so used to disappointment that they can only see the negative, or at least it’s the first five things they talk about before grudgingly admitting there was some good stuff.

[Biffer]

If people want an absolute clanger from today, it’s Sam Johnson not giving the ball outside to VdM near the start of the second half. Two on one and Duran would have blasted it in from there. Absolute howler imo.

[I like neeps]

WTF are you cunts on? I'm not going to pretend that was a faultless display but that was a good game all in. Even in beating one of the top teams in the world some of you are trying to be as negative as possible.

Generous saying Australia are one of the top teams in the world. I'd say they're our level really. We were the bookies favourites just. Not that it means a huge amount but this isn't a good period for Australian rugby union. Yes they beat South Africa at home but we can beat England and France away.

It's great to win but it wasn't a very good performance. The starting scrum was good, Ashman was great, Watson and Ritchie busy as always but outside of that not a huge number of positives individually. Defence was good, lineouts were good, scrum was good. Attack was very poor. I think you can say that.

[Yr Alban]

Watching the game back just now. Did we find out why Turner went off? He looked absolutely gutted, but not obviously hurt?

[Big D]

Watching the game back just now. Did we find out why Turner went off? He looked absolutely gutted, but not obviously hurt?

I fear its concussion.

[Blackmac]

WTF are you cunts on? I'm not going to pretend that was a faultless display but that was a good game all in. Even in beating one of the top teams in the world some of you are trying to be as negative as possible.

Nah, I think it's you that is failing to acknowledge that there are still a number of star players underperforming, making shit choices and stupid mistakes at this level when we know they shouldn't and that we don't see other top teams doing.
We are more than capable of putting the likes of Australia to the sword, but instead we scrambled a win. Australia were a seriously mediocre team but poor decisions/play by Johnson, Fagerson, Hogg and Horne butchered 4 clear cut opportunities that should have made the result far more clear cut. On top of that we have idiots like Zander who seems capable of a serious discipline fuck up at every opportunity. I don't think we should be delighted with scrapping a win when we know we have the players who are capable of doing so much more. If i'm a cunt for thinking that then so be it.

[Blackmac]

If people want an absolute clanger from today, it’s Sam Johnson not giving the ball outside to VdM near the start of the second half. Two on one and Duran would have blasted it in from there. Absolute howler imo.

Horne's decision to cut inside into cover when he had two players on his outside was as bad. Real headless chicken stuff.

[Blackmac]

There is some unbelievable shite being spouted by the Aussies on the PR thread. Would'av, could'av, should'av, clear gouge to Hooper'e eyes, truck and trailer try, blah, blah, blah. Not one acknowledging that they were second best in almost every phase of the game and should have been on for another howking if it hadn't been for our poor finishing.

[Slick]

There is some unbelievable shite being spouted by the Aussies on the PR thread. Would'av, could'av, should'av, clear gouge to Hooper'e eyes, truck and trailer try, blah, blah, blah. Not one acknowledging that they were second best in almost every phase of the game and should have been on for another howking if it hadn't been for our poor finishing.

Second best in almost every phase of the game you say? The 3rd ranked team in the world coming off the back of 2 wins against the world champions and beating NZ?

It’s almost as if we are quite good.

[Slick]

WTF are you cunts on? I'm not going to pretend that was a faultless display but that was a good game all in. Even in beating one of the top teams in the world some of you are trying to be as negative as possible.

Generous saying Australia are one of the top teams in the world. I'd say they're our level really. We were the bookies favourites just. Not that it means a huge amount but this isn't a good period for Australian rugby union. Yes they beat South Africa at home but we can beat England and France away.

It's great to win but it wasn't a very good performance. The starting scrum was good, Ashman was great, Watson and Ritchie busy as always but outside of that not a huge number of positives individually. Defence was good, lineouts were good, scrum was good. Attack was very poor. I think you can say that.

They are ranked 3rd in the world ffs. They just beat the world chaps twice. We haven’t played for months but still defence was good, lineouts, scrum…

It’s almost as if some people only started watching Scotland 3 or 4 years ago

[Big D]

It’s almost as if we are quite good.

We can be quite good and I think that's where the frustration over some of the game today has come from. We've beaten 4th and 6th in the world away from home this year. There is no reason not to be competitive at home v anyone if at our best.

The scrum (for the first 65min or so), line out and defence were all good. Beating our southern hemisphere bunnies is always good. Ashman was excellent in the main bar one missed tackle that would have led to a try.

I think the criticism of Finn and Hogg is a little over the top even though they were far from their best but the criticism of Fagersons discipline is pretty bang on.

Fagerson must know you can't put your hands in someone's face, we are a overly officious disciplinary committee from starting Kebble at TH against a scrum that Furlong struggled to contain in July. He gave away a bonkers penalty in the first play of the second half. He needs to be far more intelligent in his play.

[Blackmac]

There is some unbelievable shite being spouted by the Aussies on the PR thread. Would'av, could'av, should'av, clear gouge to Hooper'e eyes, truck and trailer try, blah, blah, blah. Not one acknowledging that they were second best in almost every phase of the game and should have been on for another howking if it hadn't been for our poor finishing.

Second best in almost every phase of the game you say? The 3rd ranked team in the world coming off the back of 2 wins against the world champions and beating NZ?

It’s almost as if we are quite good.

You are missing my point mate. Of course we are good, but my point is we are actually far better than to be just pleased at scraping a win. I think that with our current crop of players we should be capable of winning games like this far more comfortably. And c'mon, I don't know what the fuck happened in the southern hemisphere this year but you can't seriously believe that team today are even close to being the 3rd ranked team in the world. England will easily put 30 to 40 on them as should we have today.

[Yr Alban]

Just finished watching the game. Well, it was no classic, that’s for sure, but I think Scotland were the better team and deserved the win. Some of our star players didn’t have their best day - but nobody was poor either, not even Russell or Hogg. They both had a mixture of some good stuff and the odd mistake. Hogg in particular had a couple of barnstorming runs.

I do think it’s a fair point that we could have won by more than we did. Australia weren’t great today, and we left points out there from bad decision making at times. But we still won, closing out a tough game against difficult opponents, and I find that very satisfying given now often we have failed to do exactly that.

We had definitely better hope that Zander doesn’t get cited. I like Kebble as a player, and think he could become a good international THP, but he clearly isn’t there yet, and we don’t want him starting there against the Boks.

What a day for Ashman. First cap, played 70 mins, won, and scored with a finish Duhan would have been proud of.

EDIT: one other point. Australia may have been unfortunate with the YC, but they were very fortunate indeed not to get another one in the second half, after conceding so many penalties in the red zone that I actually lost count. They were lucky that we scored a try, because if we hadn’t someone was going in the bin. Having said that, Australia’s best spell of the match was when they had 14 men. They scored 10 of their 13 points and conceded none.

[Slick]

There is some unbelievable shite being spouted by the Aussies on the PR thread. Would'av, could'av, should'av, clear gouge to Hooper'e eyes, truck and trailer try, blah, blah, blah. Not one acknowledging that they were second best in almost every phase of the game and should have been on for another howking if it hadn't been for our poor finishing.

Second best in almost every phase of the game you say? The 3rd ranked team in the world coming off the back of 2 wins against the world champions and beating NZ?

It’s almost as if we are quite good.

You are missing my point mate. Of course we are good, but my point is we are actually far better than to be just pleased at scraping a win. I think that with our current crop of players we should be capable of winning games like this far more comfortably. And c'mon, I don't know what the fuck happened in the southern hemisphere this year but you can't seriously believe that team today are even close to being the 3rd ranked team in the world. England will easily put 30 to 40 on them as should we have today.

I think we are all probably fundamentally agreeing, I just think some of the negativity is over the top.

As we left the stadium the comments were that we probably left 3 or 4 trys out there and that in years gone by the stadium would probably have remained full for half an hour with everyone going crazy, but actually there was just a bit of a job done feel about it.

[Biffer]

There is some unbelievable shite being spouted by the Aussies on the PR thread. Would'av, could'av, should'av, clear gouge to Hooper'e eyes, truck and trailer try, blah, blah, blah. Not one acknowledging that they were second best in almost every phase of the game and should have been on for another howking if it hadn't been for our poor finishing.

Second best in almost every phase of the game you say? The 3rd ranked team in the world coming off the back of 2 wins against the world champions and beating NZ?

It’s almost as if we are quite good.

You are missing my point mate. Of course we are good, but my point is we are actually far better than to be just pleased at scraping a win. I think that with our current crop of players we should be capable of winning games like this far more comfortably. And c'mon, I don't know what the fuck happened in the southern hemisphere this year but you can't seriously believe that team today are even close to being the 3rd ranked team in the world. England will easily put 30 to 40 on them as should we have today.

I think the phrase 'of course we are good' reflects a dismissal of the last twenty years.

[Sards]

I hope Scotland has prepared for the " doos kicks ".

They are a permanent feature of our game so you can bet your bottom dollar it's coming

[robmatic]

Second best in almost every phase of the game you say? The 3rd ranked team in the world coming off the back of 2 wins against the world champions and beating NZ?

It’s almost as if we are quite good.

You are missing my point mate. Of course we are good, but my point is we are actually far better than to be just pleased at scraping a win. I think that with our current crop of players we should be capable of winning games like this far more comfortably. And c'mon, I don't know what the fuck happened in the southern hemisphere this year but you can't seriously believe that team today are even close to being the 3rd ranked team in the world. England will easily put 30 to 40 on them as should we have today.

I think the phrase 'of course we are good' reflects a dismissal of the last twenty years.

There's certainly a phase change involved in going from being frustrated that Scotland lack the basic skills to execute the one half chance they manage to get in a game to being frustrated because the team should have put the game away with better decision-making.

[robmatic]

Is Zander going to be in citing trouble for that altercation after the Australian disallowed try? I've seen suggestions of contact with the eyes when he did that push to Hooper's face. I don't fancy Kebble starting at tighthead against South Africa.

[Slick]

Second best in almost every phase of the game you say? The 3rd ranked team in the world coming off the back of 2 wins against the world champions and beating NZ?

It’s almost as if we are quite good.

You are missing my point mate. Of course we are good, but my point is we are actually far better than to be just pleased at scraping a win. I think that with our current crop of players we should be capable of winning games like this far more comfortably. And c'mon, I don't know what the fuck happened in the southern hemisphere this year but you can't seriously believe that team today are even close to being the 3rd ranked team in the world. England will easily put 30 to 40 on them as should we have today.

I think the phrase 'of course we are good' reflects a dismissal of the last twenty years.

Also a Scottish attitude of, it we beat anyone good then they must have been shite.

There is no way anyone in the NH is beating that Aussie team by 30-40 points

[clydecloggie]

Were you guys watching some random re-run of an old game on Dave?

Yes, it was cagey and rusty but Price, Russell and Hogg basically forced the Scottish game plan on Australia and they had no answer. A side that played together a lot recently and fully deserves it's 3rd in the world status.

Yes, IrnDu should have been put into space and Horne shouldn't have cut inside and Hogg threw a filthy intercept etc. blah blah blah but that was a match played with composure, maturity and a fair bit of quality. Not exactly deserving of two pages of moaning as if we've just given Italy a 21-0 lead after 10 minutes.

And we've got the Raeburn Shield back where it belongs!

Bring on the Bokke.

[Yr Alban]

Meant to say that there was a classic moment in the BBC commentary yesterday:

44min: Ooft! Scott Johnson slams into Australia prop Taniela Tupou and the replacement is wobbly on his feet, so has to go off for a check.

It’s still there - presumably they never noticed.

[I like neeps]

WTF are you cunts on? I'm not going to pretend that was a faultless display but that was a good game all in. Even in beating one of the top teams in the world some of you are trying to be as negative as possible.

Generous saying Australia are one of the top teams in the world. I'd say they're our level really. We were the bookies favourites just. Not that it means a huge amount but this isn't a good period for Australian rugby union. Yes they beat South Africa at home but we can beat England and France away.

It's great to win but it wasn't a very good performance. The starting scrum was good, Ashman was great, Watson and Ritchie busy as always but outside of that not a huge number of positives individually. Defence was good, lineouts were good, scrum was good. Attack was very poor. I think you can say that.

They are ranked 3rd in the world ffs. They just beat the world chaps twice. We haven’t played for months but still defence was good, lineouts, scrum…

It’s almost as if some people only started watching Scotland 3 or 4 years ago

World rankings don't mean a lot though. Since the 2015 world cup I think we're 3 2 Vs Australia and all the games except when we mauled them were one score games. They're exactly our level I think that suggests. Or we're their level and 3rd in the world standard! Also it's great we beat a team who beat SA but how about we beat them next week? The we beat a team who beat a team logic is eh not for me.

I've watched Scotland for years and that's why I'm not delighted. We know Scotland can beat good teams - this isn't the 9-8 in 2010 and we know this team can play a lot better. A win is great now let's put in the type of performance we can next week.

[Blackmac]

Second best in almost every phase of the game you say? The 3rd ranked team in the world coming off the back of 2 wins against the world champions and beating NZ?

It’s almost as if we are quite good.

You are missing my point mate. Of course we are good, but my point is we are actually far better than to be just pleased at scraping a win. I think that with our current crop of players we should be capable of winning games like this far more comfortably. And c'mon, I don't know what the fuck happened in the southern hemisphere this year but you can't seriously believe that team today are even close to being the 3rd ranked team in the world. England will easily put 30 to 40 on them as should we have today.

I think the phrase 'of course we are good' reflects a dismissal of the last twenty years.

Only if you are busy looking back, not forward. Who cares what we have had in the past, it is no reflection on the quality of the players we have now. I actually don't get your comment at all, it's like you are saying we can't expect too much of them because we have been shit for so long. You lot actually seem surprised when this team play well and you need to get over that and demand more of them.

[Blackmac]

Is Zander going to be in citing trouble for that altercation after the Australian disallowed try? I've seen suggestions of contact with the eyes when he did that push to Hooper's face. I don't fancy Kebble starting at tighthead against South Africa.

Only if his eyes were in his mouth. No where near his eyes but still ridiculously undisciplined contact with the face.

[Begbie]

Is Zander going to be in citing trouble for that altercation after the Australian disallowed try? I've seen suggestions of contact with the eyes when he did that push to Hooper's face. I don't fancy Kebble starting at tighthead against South Africa.

I'd be surprised if it isn't looked at. The Welsh social media citing officers are all over it, they seem a touch upset we won yesterday, strange bunch. However, Zander needs to grow up.

[robmatic]

Is Zander going to be in citing trouble for that altercation after the Australian disallowed try? I've seen suggestions of contact with the eyes when he did that push to Hooper's face. I don't fancy Kebble starting at tighthead against South Africa.

Only if his eyes were in his mouth. No where near his eyes but still ridiculously undisciplined contact with the face.

That kind of thing and the daft penalties are a definite issue with him.

[Blackmac]

Were you guys watching some random re-run of an old game on Dave?

Yes, it was cagey and rusty but Price, Russell and Hogg basically forced the Scottish game plan on Australia and they had no answer. A side that played together a lot recently and fully deserves it's 3rd in the world status.

Yes, IrnDu should have been put into space and Horne shouldn't have cut inside and Hogg threw a filthy intercept etc. blah blah blah but that was a match played with composure, maturity and a fair bit of quality. Not exactly deserving of two pages of moaning as if we've just given Italy a 21-0 lead after 10 minutes.

And we've got the Raeburn Shield back where it belongs!

Bring on the Bokke.

What exactly did you see about that side yesterday that says they are better than Ireland, England Wales or us. Other than their centers and Hooper putting in his usual effort they were poorer than us in every department.
You also describe us leaving 21 points out there, maybe make it 28 if Fagerson held that pass, as if it is nothing. It's not, it nearly cost us a game we should have won easily. I'm bloody positive your attitude would be completely different if Aus had slotted a last minute drop goal or penalty.
I personally think its some of you lot that should be examining your attitude because most of the other top teams fans would be raging at those sort of mistakes. It's worthy of Ewan McGregor's rant in Trainspotting.

[Tichtheid]

Thinking back about the game, without having re-watched, I think we were rusty, a lot of things didn't come off and some wrong decisions were taken, these things should improve by next week, by Japan we'll be flying, though for that game I hope we get McLean back on the park, that laddie is a serious talent.

Considering we were without four of our first choice tight five we did okay up front, but as has been said there is a drop off from Zander to a recent convert to tighthead. It would be a huge risk to bring in WP for next week, if the wrong thing happens and he is coming on after five minutes he doesn't have the puff for 75 minutes of international rugby anymore, even if he is Scotland's best scrummager, imo.

Of the backs I thought Johnson and Harris looked in the best nick, Graham might not make the cut for next week, Steyn looked very assured when he came on, maybe I'm just expecting wee Darcy to do something spectacular every time he is on the ball.

The defences kind of cancelled each other out yesterday, which is not bad thing from our perspective, it's a huge area of improvement from us ,and given that we do have some firepower in attack these days it means we should be looking at most games with some confidence.

I didn't see the England game, but from all the sides I did see Ireland looked the pick of the weekend.

[clydecloggie]

Were you guys watching some random re-run of an old game on Dave?

Yes, it was cagey and rusty but Price, Russell and Hogg basically forced the Scottish game plan on Australia and they had no answer. A side that played together a lot recently and fully deserves it's 3rd in the world status.

Yes, IrnDu should have been put into space and Horne shouldn't have cut inside and Hogg threw a filthy intercept etc. blah blah blah but that was a match played with composure, maturity and a fair bit of quality. Not exactly deserving of two pages of moaning as if we've just given Italy a 21-0 lead after 10 minutes.

And we've got the Raeburn Shield back where it belongs!

Bring on the Bokke.

What exactly did you see about that side yesterday that says they are better than Ireland, England Wales or us. Other than their centers and Hooper putting in his usual effort they were poorer than us in every department.
You also describe us leaving 21 points out there, maybe make it 28 if Fagerson held that pass, as if it is nothing. It's not, it nearly cost us a game we should have won easily. I'm bloody positive your attitude would be completely different if Aus had slotted a last minute drop goal or penalty.
I personally think its some of you lot that should be examining your attitude because most of the other top teams fans would be raging at those sort of mistakes. It's worthy of Ewan McGregor's rant in Trainspotting.

I think 'cagey and rusty' accurately describes those missed chances and the overall lack of speed to the play. If Australia had gotten the 3 at the death and Scotland had done the usual by snatching defeat, of course I'd been fuming. But the thing is, Scotland only does the usual very occasionally these days. It's a sign of their maturity. The game management from Price, Russell and Hogg is phenomenal. That's why I don't get the moaning in these last two pages of how shite Russell and Hogg were. Drop 'em. Seriously?

[Yr Alban]

Darcy actually did a lot of good stuff with the ball yesterday. Was a handful for the defence. And also, for a wee guy (well, for rugby) he doesn’t get turned over often, and doesn’t usually get bounced in tackles (last week was an exception, but the guy was twice his size)

[I like neeps]

Were you guys watching some random re-run of an old game on Dave?

Yes, it was cagey and rusty but Price, Russell and Hogg basically forced the Scottish game plan on Australia and they had no answer. A side that played together a lot recently and fully deserves it's 3rd in the world status.

Yes, IrnDu should have been put into space and Horne shouldn't have cut inside and Hogg threw a filthy intercept etc. blah blah blah but that was a match played with composure, maturity and a fair bit of quality. Not exactly deserving of two pages of moaning as if we've just given Italy a 21-0 lead after 10 minutes.

And we've got the Raeburn Shield back where it belongs!

Bring on the Bokke.

What exactly did you see about that side yesterday that says they are better than Ireland, England Wales or us. Other than their centers and Hooper putting in his usual effort they were poorer than us in every department.
You also describe us leaving 21 points out there, maybe make it 28 if Fagerson held that pass, as if it is nothing. It's not, it nearly cost us a game we should have won easily. I'm bloody positive your attitude would be completely different if Aus had slotted a last minute drop goal or penalty.
I personally think its some of you lot that should be examining your attitude because most of the other top teams fans would be raging at those sort of mistakes. It's worthy of Ewan McGregor's rant in Trainspotting.

I think 'cagey and rusty' accurately describes those missed chances and the overall lack of speed to the play. If Australia had gotten the 3 at the death and Scotland had done the usual by snatching defeat, of course I'd been fuming. But the thing is, Scotland only does the usual very occasionally these days. It's a sign of their maturity. The game management from Price, Russell and Hogg is phenomenal. That's why I don't get the moaning in these last two pages of how shite Russell and Hogg were. Drop 'em. Seriously?

Nobody is saying drop them? But Russell wasn't where he can be, he doesn't play much for Racing so hopefully it's just a bit of rust. I thought Hogg was fine overall - maybe tried a bit too hard at times but that's who he is he plays with emotion which is great.

[robmatic]

Darcy actually did a lot of good stuff with the ball yesterday. Was a handful for the defence. And also, for a wee guy (well, for rugby) he doesn’t get turned over often, and doesn’t usually get bounced in tackles (last week was an exception, but the guy was twice his size)

I thought the only thing he was guilty of was being a bit too enthusiastic to run it, but he wasn't the only one. A few occasions I thought he was about to absolutely skin his opposite number wide on the wing but they did well to keep him in check.

[Tichtheid]

Darcy actually did a lot of good stuff with the ball yesterday. Was a handful for the defence. And also, for a wee guy (well, for rugby) he doesn’t get turned over often, and doesn’t usually get bounced in tackles (last week was an exception, but the guy was twice his size)

Aye you're right, like I say I think he has set a very high ceiling for himself and if he doesn't score tries like against Scarlets a few weeks ago I get disappointed :-)

[Blackmac]

Were you guys watching some random re-run of an old game on Dave?

Yes, it was cagey and rusty but Price, Russell and Hogg basically forced the Scottish game plan on Australia and they had no answer. A side that played together a lot recently and fully deserves it's 3rd in the world status.

Yes, IrnDu should have been put into space and Horne shouldn't have cut inside and Hogg threw a filthy intercept etc. blah blah blah but that was a match played with composure, maturity and a fair bit of quality. Not exactly deserving of two pages of moaning as if we've just given Italy a 21-0 lead after 10 minutes.

And we've got the Raeburn Shield back where it belongs!

Bring on the Bokke.

What exactly did you see about that side yesterday that says they are better than Ireland, England Wales or us. Other than their centers and Hooper putting in his usual effort they were poorer than us in every department.
You also describe us leaving 21 points out there, maybe make it 28 if Fagerson held that pass, as if it is nothing. It's not, it nearly cost us a game we should have won easily. I'm bloody positive your attitude would be completely different if Aus had slotted a last minute drop goal or penalty.
I personally think its some of you lot that should be examining your attitude because most of the other top teams fans would be raging at those sort of mistakes. It's worthy of Ewan McGregor's rant in Trainspotting.

I think 'cagey and rusty' accurately describes those missed chances and the overall lack of speed to the play. If Australia had gotten the 3 at the death and Scotland had done the usual by snatching defeat, of course I'd been fuming. But the thing is, Scotland only does the usual very occasionally these days. It's a sign of their maturity. The game management from Price, Russell and Hogg is phenomenal. That's why I don't get the moaning in these last two pages of how shite Russell and Hogg were. Drop 'em. Seriously?

I've said nothing about Russell and yeah I think Hogg is going through a drastic drop in form and is overcompensating and making errors and poor decisions. Anyone arguing that he is the same player as 3 or 4 years ago is deluded and he is lucky that even this version is the best option we have. Have a look at the comments on PR to see that many think he is incredibly overrated. That's not for no reason.
One example is the 50-22 rule, it might not be pretty but who is better positioned to take advantage than us, yet at least half a dozen times Hogg ignored the option to punt up the middle or go for a death and glory dash into traffic. That's not great game management.

[mos_eisely_]

I can't decide if it's crap or not that the Springbok game is at 1pm on Saturday

[Tichtheid]

I can't decide if it's crap or not that the Springbok game is at 1pm on Saturday

It's a bit crap.

I might stave off and watch in Saturday evening, though it's never quite the same as "live"

[Big D]

One example is the 50-22 rule, it might not be pretty but who is better positioned to take advantage than us, yet at least half a dozen times Hogg ignored the option to punt up the middle or go for a death and glory dash into traffic. That's not great game management.

That is blatantly game plan based and because teams now specifically split to cover the touchline more.

Australia have an attacking back three and a pretty good maul (which we mostly defended well yesterday). A kick that is gathered by their back 3 our out on the full would have played into the Aussie hands.

Kicking long and down the middle, especially when it hits the deck isn't a bad tactic. It can cause them to kick it out, ball can roll over the dead ball and get a goal line drop out which isn't a bad result and allows the defensive line to set well.

Hogg isn't currently the player he was 3 years ago, which gives those who have never rated or liked him plenty of ammunition especially the Welsh. Those on PR never liked him in the first place. Even when not on form he still contributes and his captaincy remains very good.

[I like neeps]

One example is the 50-22 rule, it might not be pretty but who is better positioned to take advantage than us, yet at least half a dozen times Hogg ignored the option to punt up the middle or go for a death and glory dash into traffic. That's not great game management.

Punting it down the middle is done to set up a 50:22 though. Because of the 50:22 during the kicking battle teams cover the touchlines leaving the middle open. Therefore the kicking team putting it down the middle means the receiving team has to cover more ground to get there - usually meaning the ball bounces and you have an extra few seconds for the chase. And that the receiver and now the kicker is out of position so there's higher chance of a 50:22 when you return their return. It's smart tactically so shouldn't be a criticism at all.

[Yr Alban]

One example is the 50-22 rule, it might not be pretty but who is better positioned to take advantage than us, yet at least half a dozen times Hogg ignored the option to punt up the middle or go for a death and glory dash into traffic. That's not great game management.

That is blatantly game plan based and because teams now specifically split to cover the touchline more.

Australia have an attacking back three and a pretty good maul (which we mostly defended well yesterday). A kick that is gathered by their back 3 our out on the full would have played into the Aussie hands.

Kicking long and down the middle, especially when it hits the deck isn't a bad tactic. It can cause them to kick it out, ball can roll over the dead ball and get a goal line drop out which isn't a bad result and allows the defensive line to set well.

Hogg isn't currently the player he was 3 years ago, which gives those who have never rated or liked him plenty of ammunition especially the Welsh. Those on PR never liked him in the first place. Even when not on form he still contributes and his captaincy remains very good.

One of the major annoyances from the Lions tour was that when Hogg finally stayed fit enough to claim the shirt he should have occupied at least 4 years previously, it coincided with the aforementioned loss of form, and the predictable response was ‘See, he’s over-rated. I always said so.’ This was especially irritating given that the people saying this generally wanted Hogg replaced by Liam Williams, who (and I’m being charitable here) did no better than Hogg.

The concerning point is that Hogg isn’t firing, and we need him to be. It’s not a loss of fitness or pace thing. It’s in his head.